I am a busy working mom with 2 hungry boys (3 if you count my husband) but no amount of time is too much to spend planning and preparing a nice meal for my family. Here are some of my thoughts..... enjoy!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

There’s a TGIF right by my school so I go there sometimes with friends and teachers. I am obsessed with TGIF’s Zen Chicken Potstickers! They are just delicious and go perfect with a mudslide, yum! Anyways… since there isn’t a TGIF by home Justin and the boys haven’t ever had an opportunity to try the Potstickers so I decided to give them a try at home and was pleasantly surprised! They were really very good!

DirectionsIn a food processor I mixed the green onions, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame seed oil (really I was just trying to mince the onions as fine as I could get them because my boys won’t eat onions). Once the onions were small enough I added the ground chicken and seasoned it with out usual Chinese seasonings… garlic, ginger, and chili garlic sauce. I pulsed it in the food processor for a good minute until it looked well mixed.

I then made all the dumplings. I would just hold the wonton wrapper in my hand, put a gumball sized dollop of the meat mixture in the middle, dipped my finger in water, wet the edges of the wonton wrapper then folded it in half and sealed. Towards the end I got better at forming the potstickers and squishing the meat around to fill the edges of the wonton wrapper but they tasted no better than any of the others.

I heated my skillet to medium-high on the stove and drizzled a little of the sesame seed oil in the bottom (just so they didn’t stick too much). I laid the potstickers in the pan and let them cook for around 3 minutes. When the bottoms were a nice bubbly brown color I flipped them all over and drizzled in the chicken broth. Just a couple tablespoons until it evaporated away and then added a couple more tablespoons. This steamed the potstickers and kept them moist. I let the other side cook for 1-2 minutes until it was bubbly brown and served warm.

Justin was in charge of the dipping sauce and made 2 different kinds. I preferred the sweet soy sauce like TGIF serves (just sugar and soy sauce), but Justin also mixed a soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic sauce for himself. It was pretty bitter though. To make either you just combine the ingredients in a bowl and warm in the microwave (so the sugar will mix in with the soy).

All in all these were delicious! We ate them with homemade Lo Mein Noodles and baked Crab Rangoon (both were disasters). But hey… 1 out of 3 isn’t too bad in a family of picky eaters!